Under the Hood
by AKay1297
Summary: There was a reason Oliver Queen kept his identity a secret: it put those he cared about in danger from the people who were always after him. And Felicity Smoak, his tech wizard and close friend, was their newest hostage. Now Ollie needs to get her back so he can know the one person in his life who truly understands him is safe.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: So, I've been dying to write an Arrow fic for a long time now, and I'm absolutely obsessed with the show, but I haven't been able to come up with a decent idea until now. I'm finally happy with the premise and I'm so excited to write this story. I hope my enthusiasm shows in this fic and that you all enjoy it. So here's the prologue! Read, review, and enjoy!**

* * *

**Prologue**

Oliver Queen had never been good at opening up to people. First, as the playboy who slept around to avoid intimacy with the one women he could see himself getting serious with. Then, on the island where he learned to close himself off to avoid the pain of torture and violence that he'd been exposed to. And now, as the hooded and masked vigilante that protected Starling City from the turmoil within. He refused to tell anyone but Diggle and Felicity, who had kind of figured it out on their own, about his secret.

He knew what happened when someone found out at the wrong time, and he knew what it felt like to know he was responsible for it. He couldn't tell Laurel why he and Tommy had been fighting before Tommy had died, because he was the reason Tommy had died. He couldn't bear her thinking of him that way, knowing that he was the vigilante and he was the one she hated for leaving Tommy before the building collapsed.

"You're deep in thought," Diggle smirked as he walked into the basement of Oliver's club.

"Are we interrupting something?" Felicity sat down in her spinning desk chair, her trademark smirk in place on her delicate face. Oliver turned around, a pleasant smile on his face.

"Thinking about the mask," he turned to glance at his costume. "And my new policy."

"What new policy?" Felicity handled most of the details of his life, if he had a new policy in place, she would have already heard about it.

"I can't be the visionary this city needs without bringing an end to the Hood." He shook his head. "I need to make a change. I can't keep up with the killing, I can't bring this city to emulate someone who ruthlessly kills and destroys people. I need to find a new way of doing things." He turned around to look at the costume as Felicity and Diggle stared at his back with their eyebrows raised. "Oh!" He turned around and smirked. "And I think I need a new name."

* * *

Felicity walked through her apartment, humming to herself. She was about to have herself a night on the couch with some beer, pizza, and a marathon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Good food and a TV show the combined sci-fi and girls who kick ass. Who wouldn't like that?

She smiled as she grabbed a six pack from the fridge and shimmied her way back to the couch.

From outside the window, Oliver smiled as he watched her. She was just so adorable. He knew he had to leave soon, but his routine checks on the people he cared about didn't happen that often, he wanted to be thorough when he could watch over them. She had just settled down and turned on the TV and was opening the first of the beers when the bell at her door rang. She stood to answer it and Oliver's eyes widened. She was dressed in only a thin white t shirt that failed to concealed her hot pink lacy bra and a pair of boy short underwear, her long legs smooth and bare and her toenails a hot pink that matched her bra. He snickered and shook his head. She was going to give that poor pizza kid a heart attack. Oliver had watched the kid walk in the apartment building door a minute earlier. He was so young a strong wind would knock him over, let alone Felicity's sneaky hot body.

Sure, she kept it hidden, but he'd noticed. Where had that come from? Throwing the off limits thought out of his head, Oliver turned. He really should go home and get some sleep. With one last glance at the Felicity as she dropped that fine ass of hers back on the couch with a steaming box of pizza, he dropped down on to the next rooftop and took the emergency staircase down to the street.

Back in the apartment, Felicity snapped her head around to look out the window. She could have sworn she heard something. Standing up to look around at the street below, she frowned. She wasn't often wrong. Shaking her head to clear it, she turned around to get back to her Buffy marathon. And came face to face with a smirking man in black. And the next second, she found her head covered with a black bag and strong arms dragging her away from the window.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey, everyone! This chapter has been both a bitch and a blessing to write. I had an idea in my head originally of where I wanted this fic to go, but I started writing and it just didn't feel right. I switched some things around, and now I have a chapter that I am happy with. Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favorited this fic. It means so much to me. I think this is the most attention I've gotten on the first chapter of any fic I've written, so thank you guys so much! Now, as always, read, review, and enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter One**

Priority number one was getting Felicity back. Oliver strode through the basement of the club, oaring back and forth as he tried to figure out what to do about Felicity. He just couldn't wrap his head around why anyone would want her.

That's not true, the annoying little voice in his head said. He couldn't find a reason for her kidnapping that didn't have to do with him. And he couldn't stand to think he had been the reason for harm done to her. If she ended up injured, or worse, he might have to start killing again. Nothing was going to keep him from saving her life.

She was the sweetest, purest, most genuine person he'd ever met in his life, and he was not about to allow that to be corrupted. She was beautiful and precious, like a jewel that deserved to be set in only the finest gold. If only he had a heart of gold, he thought wryly. He might be only friends with her, but he wasn't oblivious. He was still a man, and he noticed and appreciated her beauty. But he wasn't in her league, and he knew it, so continuing to think these… off-putting thoughts of her would do him no good. It had been weeks now since he had begun to think of her in… non-friends-only terms. Nearly every day since, he'd jerked awake, sticky sweat covering his sheets, as a dream of a naked and loving Felicity faded from his mind.

He really needed to stop thinking about that. He shouldn't even be thinking about sex anymore. Not after the disastrous situation with Laurel the year before. Just sex hadn't worked for them, even if it was only one time and it was rebound sex. They just weren't those types of people. And Oliver had to think about more than just women. He was trying to remake his image in the public. If he began bouncing back and forth in relationships with different women, it was just going to look like he was going back to his old ways. He needed respect, especially if he was going to help out in the Glades. Roy had been a huge help in that aspect, but Roy wasn't old enough or sneaky enough to get around both Oliver and Thea to actually fight and make a difference. And he was rebuilding his father's company. And dealing with Sebastian Blood. And continuing to protect his mother from the wrath of the people of Starling City.

Not to mention everything he was dealing with as the… well, he hadn't exactly come up with a new name since deciding he didn't want to be called The Hood or The Vigilante anymore. But he had issues in that part of his life as well. He needed closure. He needed a way to keep everyone around him safe. But by being… that person he was inherently putting them in danger.

Which was why he was currently trying to find Felicity. He had no idea where she'd gone, but he'd stopped back at her apartment later that night, maybe hoping deep inside of him that she'd ask him to come in and they'd find themselves lazily making love on the bed in a few hours. He knew it was ridiculous, but there was a part of him that wanted it to happen. So badly. If she was in this kind of danger purely from knowing his identity, which he reluctantly suspected was the reason for her disappearance, she would be in much deeper shit if she was his girlfriend. He couldn't do that to her.

So he was better off alone. She was better off if he was alone.

Focus, Ollie, he chided himself. Stay on topic. Find Felicity. What would she do if Diggle had been taken? Where would she look?

He immediately made his was over to the computer setup she had and stared at it blankly. Now what? Felicity was being held captive and, hopefully, they hadn't killed her yet. If they were holding her for ransom, they would have to know he'd ask for proof of life before handing the money over. That would be the case if she had been taken because she was the friend of Oliver Queen, billionaire playboy of Starling City. Things would be much worse if she was taken because they knew she was associated with the… Hood, Vigilante, whatever. He really needed to get on with coming up with a new name. If she was taken because of that identity of his, there was no way he could predict when she would be killed. They didn't need to wait for anything from him, they would just want to send a message to him. And they could do that any damn time they wanted.

He punched a hole in the wall.

"What the hell is going on, Oliver?" Diggle burst into the room from upstairs. Apparently the late night crowd at the club had been startled by his outburst.

"Felicity's gone." Oliver spoke coldly, not bothering to look at Diggle as he did.

"She left? Why?" Diggle seemed completely perplexed. And why shouldn't he be? Felicity was happy with them, she wouldn't have left on a whim.

"She's been taken." Digg's face fell into a confused and angry frown. He didn't understand, but if anyone laid a hand on Felicity, he would have their head. "I stopped by he apartment last night, and her window was open, there was broken glass, and she wasn't there. All signs of a struggle, Digg. She didn't just have an accident and go out to buy a broom to sweep up the glass. She went to MIT. If she left her apartment, she would have closed the window. Someone took her."

"Then we need to get her back." Digg's voice sounded as resolute as Oliver wished his could be. He wished he could focus on anything but the sweet scent of her hair and the idea that he may never be able to hold her soft, curvy body against his. That beautiful, beautiful body. He couldn't think about sex right now. Especially not in front of Diggle. Getting a hard-on while talking about Felicity being missing wouldn't help anything. Even if all it took for him to feel desire tightening his gut was the thought of her and one of the tight skirts she wore. Or those boy short panties he'd seen her in. He could feel need stirring and he quickly redirect this thoughts to the situation at hand.

He needed to find her, so he could somehow convince her he loved her. And then keep her the hell out of his life. Being as attached as he was to Diggle and Felicity wasn't good for any of them, and he needed to keep them safe. For his own sanity. But at least if he was able to tell her how he felt, she would know someone loved her.

Loved her? Where had that come from? He didn't love Felicity. He cared about her, yes, but he sure as hell didn't love her. He couldn't. He loved exactly two people in his life, and they shared his blood. It was kind of impossible for him to not love his mother and Thea, but it was possible for him to keep himself from loving Felicity. He loved her as a friend. Or at least that's what he told himself in an effort to refocus. A task he was having a hard time with. His brain was scattered, and that wasn't supposed to happen to him.

"I don't know how." Oliver spoke quietly. He wasn't even sure Digg had heard him until his large, strong hand was planted on the table in front of Oliver.

"Then you'd better figure out how. She wouldn't want you to freeze, Oliver. She doesn't stop when something has happened to one of us. She keeps working. Just like you need to right now. Focus, Oliver. Think about Felicity." That was the problem. He couldn't stop thinking about her.

"I can't think of anything but not being able to see her again." Oliver said, leaning towards the table, his hands braced apart on the cold metal surface. He couldn't seem to make himself look into Digg's eyes. He knew what he would find: disappointment. The "D" word. He knew what Digg was trying to get him to do, but he didn't have any problem with motivation.

He was plenty motivated to find Felicity. He just couldn't get out of this angry trance. He didn't know where to start, and fear was controlling him. Fear never controlled him.

"Well, you know if you don't do anything you won't see her again." Digg's words were like a slap in the face for Oliver. He was right. If he didn't do anything, no one else was going to step in and save her. No one else even knew she was missing. So they needed to be the ones to do it.

"Yeah, Digg, I know." He looked up. "Let's find us a sexy IT girl."

"Sexy?" Digg raised his eyebrows.

Yeah, that had slipped out, hadn't it? Oliver decided to play it cool, shrugging his shoulders. "You know how many times guys at the office have asked her out. She's attractive."

"Yes, but it's not like you to point it out," Digg said, a smile playing around the corners of his mouth.

Oliver grabbed his bow and began to stride towards the door, Digg following behind him with that smile still in place. "Digg? Shut up."

* * *

Oliver's phone rang as they drove trough downtown Starling City. The Glades were the only place in the city there were people mad enough at both Oliver Queen and the… other guy to kidnap one of the only two people connected to both of them. Well, maybe three, if Roy counted. But he was more associated with Thea than Oliver, and he was damn happy about it. Kid was a pain in his ass.

"What are we going to do when we get to the Glades?" Digg asked, glancing briefly at Oliver before turning his eyes back to the road. "Knock on every door and ask 'Hey, have you seen a sexy IT girl bound and gagged and held captive by hulking body-guard-looking men?' Somehow, I don't think that'll go over too well."

"We need to think like Felicity." Oliver mumbled, staring out the window. Maybe he wasn't acting like himself, but Felicity hit him closer to home than anyone else in the world. "She has a knack for finding the guy right when we need to find him."

"Yeah, but that's when we're in there and she can use the computer to do some searches or something and find out where they are. We don't know how to do that." Well, there was that. Why did Digg have to sound so logical? Why couldn't they just wish they'd find her and have her show up in the backseat, so Oliver could hold her tight and bury his nose in her delicate neck and curly blond hair? Why couldn't it be like that? Because life wasn't easy, Oliver answered for himself. Wishing for something can't make it be, partially because of the laws of physics, but also because a wish had no concrete significance. Working at something, taking a step to make it happen, that could change the outcome of things in the real world. One passing thought or wish in his head could never affect anything out there.

Oliver believed in hard work. He knew there was no use in wishing for things to be different, because frankly, life was hard on a pretty massive scale. That was part of the reason he dedicated his life to making everyone else's life better. No one should have to go through what he'd gone through, especially no one innocent. Like Felicity. She was innocent. And sweet and pure and good. She didn't deserve what was happening to her, and he was going to save her ass before something actually did manage to do more damage to her than was already done. And he was kicking himself for the damage already done.

"We'll do it the old-fashioned way then." Oliver turned to face Digg. "Logic."

"Logic? Ollie, there's hundreds of people in the Glades that would have your head for just being in the Glades. What makes you think you can sort through them to find Felicity?"

"I have faith, Digg. We have to find her. We wasted enough time already. We can't give up. This is what we do. We keep going when everyone else stops." Oliver nodded, his fords working to convince himself. "We can't give up on her."

"So how do you plan on logicking this out?"

There was still that problem to deal with. "We need more information. We gotta think back to everything that's happened to us the past few days. Anything odd, anything out of place we didn't think was that important at the time just got extremely important." Oliver sat back in his seat, contemplating and scouring his memory for anything that could be useful in figuring out who had taken Felicity.

His mind blank, he was glad for the interruption when his cell phone rang. He exchanged a glance with Diggle as he pulled it out of his jacket pocket and held it up to his ear. "Hello?" It might have been Oliver Queen's phone, but especially in this situation, he couldn't be too careful. He wouldn't answer with "Oliver Queen" or with his voice modifier and give away either identity.

"Mr. Queen," a slimy, cool voice said from the other end. "You are a very hard man to reach. I'm not sure if it's your nightly hunts with that toy bow and arrow of yours or the ridiculous amount of security around Queen Enterprises failing CEO, but whatever it is, it is a miracle this call is happening."

"What do you want?" It wasn't necessary to ask who it was; they wouldn't tell him. There was also no need to ask why they were calling; they both knew whoever it was had Felicity.

"Me? I'd like to repair the Glades from the damage you caused. I'd like to free all of my friends and family from prison. And I'd really like for all the people you've killed to come back. My neighborhood just isn't the same without them." So he was after revenge. It made sense. A lot of people in the Glades wanted revenge. "But for now, I'll settle for making your life as hellish as you've made mine. You're responsible for the deaths of my parents, my sisters, and you're hunting my brother. Not to mention the countless people in the Glades who have died because of you. So, you've taken away my life, I'll take away yours."

Oliver's blood ran cold. It was what he had feared. This man didn't care what Oliver did; he was going to kill Felicity anyways.

"Why are you telling me this?" It didn't make sense. If he was going to kill her anyways, he didn't need to tell Oliver before he did it. He'd tell him after, in a much more personal way. Like showing him Felicity's dead body. Oliver's stomach turned at the thought. But it was true. If he was planning on killing Felicity anyways, he'd send the message in person so Oliver had no way to deny it was true.

"I was hoping you could do me a favor." He hadn't counted on this.

"And what favor would that be?"

"You have forty eight hours. The girl stays alive for forty eight hours. After that she's dead."

"What do I have to do?"

"You have to tell the world that Oliver Queen is the Vigilante." If his blood had been cold before, it was downright freezing now.

And he slammed the phone down, cracking the screen as it hit the chilled window.

* * *

Felicity wriggled in her chair, the rope wrapped around her ribs and biceps scratchy and too tight for normal breathing. The ducts tape on her mouth was completely air tight, allowing her to breathe only through her nose. She had panicked at first. But she knew struggling was only going to tighten the ropes and constrict her breathing even further.

Oliver and Diggle would come and get her. They had to. Oliver was not one to rest when someone he knew was missing. Then again, he might not even know she was missing. He could be blissfully unaware, sitting at the club brooding over Laurel and nursing a beer. That had been his MO recently, and she was silly to think different. She'd have to get herself out of this one.

And then she'd overheard the phone call. These men, who lived in this dingy basement with drills and other mechanical tools constantly whirring overhead, wanted Oliver to tell the world who he was? She couldn't let him do that. She couldn't let him give up like that. So she'd get out of this on her own. She'd die if she had to. But she wasn't going to allow Oliver to give up the one thing he had to help people.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I think I forgot to do this at the beginning, so here's my disclaimer. I own nothing besides my original plot. Okay, now for the good stuff. Sorry it's been so long. I've been dealing with a slight technical mishap. All of my fanfiction stories were on my laptop, which decided the holidays would be the perfect time to die and not turn on again. So here we are with my next chapter. Fair warning, I know Oliver may have seemed a little out of character so far, with him thinking about sex while he's worried, and I know that was mentioned in the comments, so I just wanted to address that. I kind of imagined him as so stuck in the shock that he may never be able to do all those things with Felicity because she may be dead, so he experiences them with his imagination, though his timing could be better. And I think Felicity is such a strong character, and it's never really seen because Oliver is constantly rescuing her, so I wanted to show a little bit of her rescuing herself and Oliver being stuck in this place of not really knowing how to process his feelings. Wow, I've been talking a while. Sorry about that! Anyways, as always, read, review, and enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter One**

It had taken her a few hours, but Felicity had finally thought up a plan to get herself out of her current mess. She'd been undercover enough to know how to lie. If she could get the damn tape off of her mouth, she'd be able to get herself out of this situation. She hadn't been there long enough to know if they were going to feed her or not, but if they did, they'd have to take the tape off.

Hopefully she'd be able to pull it off. There was no way she was letting Ollie sacrifice himself. But a backup plan was necessary. She always erred on the side of caution. Except when she'd stupidly entered the flu vaccination van on her own. But she hadn't really expected anyone to be in there, and she definitely hadn't expected Ollie to leave his mother's trial to come to her rescue.

Oliver. Not Ollie. She had to stop referring to him as Ollie. Don't get too attached. She reminded herself. Besides, he wasn't even coming to her rescue now.

Okay, Felicity, focus, she told herself. Glancing around, she took in her surroundings. They might have taped her mouth, but she wasn't blindfolded. She spun her head, discreetly looking around. She spotted a roll of duct tape on the floor. Sure, it could be useful, but she would have to be untied first for that to do anything with it.

She next saw a phone which, again, she'd have to be untied to use. Not to mention it was too far away for her to reach. Even if she had her sky high heels. Her cell phone lay a few feet away from the handheld phone she'd just spotted. She'd had it in her hand when they'd grabbed her, and they'd tossed it far from her. Finally, her eyes landed on a tool kit. Bingo. If need be, she could stretch out her foot and hook her toes around if she could somehow wriggle out of the ropes around her legs.

She tested them, pressing her leg outward and trying to see if the ties would stretch. To her surprise, they actually moved a bit. If she tried it a couple more times, she might actually be able to get her foot out. But only if it came to that. She didn't need to risk serious physical harm if she could talk her way out of it.

She still wasn't sure what she was going to do once she got out. Once she got out. Not if. She couldn't afford to think in ifs. This was too important of a situation to get distracted by possibilities. She quickly fixed an expression of fear on her face when one of the men re-entered the room.

He glanced over at her, smirking. "Don't worry, sweetheart. Your little boyfriend will be fine once he tells the world who he is. You on the other hand…" His voice sent chills running down her spine. This guy was seriously messed up. And if Oliver ever found out who they were, he was going to be seriously injured. But Oliver was never going to find out who they were because she was going to get out before he ever revealed his identity to anyone. And she wouldn't tell him who they were. He didn't need to be dragged into this even more than he already was.

"Yo, Rake, what's going on?" Another one of the men entered, dropping himself down on the deep chair next to the table the other man was standing at.

"How long we keeping her here before the boss sees her?" Rake and the other man glanced in her direction, before the other one shrugged.

"Not sure, but he's gonna want to see her before…." She hears his voice cut out and she shivers. Nothing that he could have said after that would have been good for her.

She was suddenly struck by an idea. She began to squirm in her seat, attempting to speak, but the tape over her mouth muffled the sounds. The men glanced over. Rake smirked as she rubbed her thighs together, attempting to convey her message. "Need to take a piss, princess?" He shook his head and turned back to his work, still smirking. "The seat will absorb it."

She shook her head and desperately continued to shift in her seat. The other man glanced her way. "Rake, she don't have to pee."

Rake glanced and rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Allen. Just get her to shut the fuck up."

Allen moved over her way and ripped the tape from her mouth. "What do you want, sweetheart?" He crooned, moving closer to her freed mouth. So close she could smell the stale breath leaving his mouth. She almost threw up as the stench of old beer, rotting food and body odor hit her nose as he leaned closer.

"It's kind of embarrassing," she said, tucking her head into her shoulder to sell her blush.

"Spit it out or you get nothing," he growled as he leaned closer still.

"It's that time of the month, and if you don't do something soon, there will be blood all over this cushion. If there isn't already." A sense of feminine triumph hit her as both men stopped in their tracks and glanced hesitantly at each other. Allen looked up at Rake. "The boss will kill us if we have to replace his favorite chair."

Rake eyed her suspiciously, before taking a deep breath and shaking his head. "Do whatever you think is right, dude, but if something happens to her, we're gonna have hell to pay."

Allen nodded and leaned down to jerk the bindings off Felicity's wrists and ankles. She stood, rubbing them to soothe the grooves the ropes had left there. Maybe she didn't need to have a backup plan after all. This was working out pretty good. She still had no idea what she was going to do when she got out, where she'd go, who she'd see, how she'd contact Oliver and Diggle. She figured she'd run and get as far the hell away from these men as she could before she would decide what to do about contacting Oliver and Digg.

"There's a room back there. It's got water and a couple of rolls of paper towels. Be quick." He nudged her into the room and slammed the door.

She smirked. This had been working out better than she could have imagined. There was a window high on the wall of the room. Too high for her to reach barefoot, but on a small stepping stool, she could reach and pull herself up. She was tall and deceptively strong for her thin build. She could muscle her way up there and out. The only difficulty would be doing it without making much noise. If she made a racket, they'd be in the room before she could turn around. And she'd be dead, not long after.

She glanced around, looking for something to step on, something she could use to get a leg up to the window. She had just managed to quietly pick up a stack of newspapers that was just tall enough for her to reach the ledge on her tip toes when the door began to squeak. In a moment of desperation, she pushed herself up and tried to hoist herself through the window. But she was too slow.

Strong arms grabbed her and yanked her down. Her knee cracked against the wall and she was puled flush against the back of one of the men. "Rake, help me with this!" She heard. It was yelled in her ear. Arms wrapped around her as hands shackled her wrists, binding her so she was unable to move her upper body anymore. She couldn't worm her way out of the hold, but she could kick. And bite. As girly as it was, it might be the only defense she had left.

Kicking out her left leg with all her might, she attempted to nail Rake in the groin with her hand. But with a quickness deceptive of his rank and dirty state, he transferred her wrists to one hand and grabbed her leg before it made contact with his body. "Uh-uh, sweetheart." He grinned, leaning in so close his face almost touched her. She leaned back, trying to put as much distance between herself and the piece of shit of a man in front of her. "Play nice."

And she was dragged back through the room. A moment later, she felt a pinch in her neck and the world went black.

* * *

"Boss, what do we do?" Rake looked up at the man who had just entered the room.

"Keep her sedated. We don't want any risks in case the Hood decides to come knocking. She needs to be alive and well. After forty-eight hours, however, all bets are off." He smiled, a cruelty unlike anything else edging in on the expression of glee.

"What do we do in the meantime?" Allen spoke up, looking up from his spot at the side desk.

"Prep the vertigo. Test it on the rats. See if the new formula makes it any more… potent."

"Potent, boss?"

"Those rats should be feeling the effects within five minutes. They should be running desperately back for more." He chuckled darkly. "You forget, boys, we have a plan."

Rake and Allen glance at each other. "And what, exactly, would that plan be, boss?"

"The Count…. He had no vision. All he wanted was chaos. Which is a perfectly admirable goal, but with chaos, you've gotta have some reason for it. Chaos for the sake of chaos is madness, and it will turn the world upside down. It earns you no power. You gain nothing. The Count did not understand that. We, my friends… we get it. We will make a place for ourselves. The world will remember our names. We will forever be known for avenging the Glades. And the Hood is all part of that plan."

"How, boss?"

"Once he has revealed his identity and the Glades are given a person to aim their anger at, we will have an army at our command. It won't be long before Oliver Queen and the downfall of the Glades are associated with that entire class, and the whole city will fall into civil war. After allowing them a taste of death and violence, we offer an out: we lace the drinking water of the city with our special vertigo formula. Within hours, we will have the entire upper class eating out of the palm of our hands. The Glades will control Starling City. Chaos will rule. Chaos with a purpose. And we will control everything in the city."

"That's a… hell of a plan, boss," Allen said, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest. "How are we going to pull it off?"

"Let me worry about that. You just keep her here for the next two days and let me handle the rest. I'll let you know when to make the next move. And Allen?" Allen glanced up. "Keep an eye on those rats. I want to know how the vertigo is working."

The boss glanced around the dingy room one more time before sweeping out. Allen and Rake stared at each other with raised eyebrows. Neither one of them noticed when Felicity's mouth lifted at one corner.

* * *

Oliver and Diggle were seated at the kitchen table in Felicity's apartment. They had returned there after the phone call. Oliver had his head hung between his arms, his elbows braced on his knees, and gripped his neck with both hands. Diggle watched him as he fought his internal battle.

"Oliver, you can't keep beating yourself up like this," Diggle finally spoke, causing Ollie to jerk his head up. "I know you want to keep Felicity safe, but when she is with those men, she is anything but safe. We need to get her out of there."

"We can't march in there and drag her out! Hell, Digg, we don't even know where there is!" Oliver stood up and began pacing through the kitchen.

"So we find where there is." He met Oliver's confused gaze. "How hard can it be?"


End file.
